Camilla and David’s Hotchpotch Locally Sourced Cornish Wedding

I am in love with Camilla and David’s gorgeous wedding in Porthilly on the Cornish coast. Everything about it is just so beautiful. From the stunning location to the handmade gin that was provided to each guest as their favours – their wedding captures everything that I think is so special about marrying the person you want to spend the rest of your life with and then sharing that love with the people who mean the most to you both.

Camilla and David said I do on the 6th September 2014 at St Michael’s church in Porthilly, followed by a marquee reception on a friend’s headland a stones throw from the church. Described as being their happy place, Cornwall holds many special memories for Camilla and David and along with their joint interests and love, was the main inspiration behind pretty much everything they planned…..

The only inspiration for the day was that we wanted it to be very ‘us’! No themes, we just wanted it to feel like our guests had come round for a day at our house. Cosy, fun, romantic and a little bit silly at points! We tried as much as we could to keep things local…. If we could get it in Cornwall/the South West – we did! Supporting local businesses is something that is important to me so this guided a lot of our decisions!

With stunning photography by Jackson & Co Photographyand some fantastic DIY decor and gift ideas – this is one wedding you will most definitely want to pop into your ideas box!

Over to Camilla and David…..

A Beach, One Knee and a 99 Flake!

As usual we headed down to Cornwall last September. We had planned to go to my favourite beach – Bedruthan Steps, but the day before this I had injured my knee running and on top of that it was overcast. So I wasn’t particularly keen and didn’t want to drag David over there in the rain! After some faffing we made it over to the beach. Bedruthan is a stunning beach, only accessible by a steep cliff staircase at low tide. Bad knee & stairs, not a great combo… I was feeling a bit nauseous by the bottom of the stairs and to top it off David was being very odd!

We strolled along the beach for a bit and the sun appeared through the clouds! David sat down on a rock. I sat down next to him and he immediately got up….. I was a bit confused! Then he got down on one knee and asked me if I would be his wife! I cannot put in words how it felt. David is my world and here he was asking me to spend the rest of my life with him – a no brainer really! But despite all the excitement and happiness my first response was ‘Are you sure?’!

So after it had sunk in a little and I had stopped squealing we celebrated with the finest ice cream – a 99 Flake!!

A Relaxed Wedding Style….

I tried on quite a few dresses and I loved a Jesus Peiro gown, I was pretty much set on it until one day just after Christmas I was on Pinterest and saw a picture of a wedding dress from Cortana. I went online and found their collection and within it was a simple top and skirt. It was the one!!! I had to order it online and wait for it to be made…. 4 weeks later it arrived. It fit! Phew! I didn’t want to take it off!

I don’t dress up a lot and I found a lot of wedding dresses just too much! I have a relaxed style and I’m happiest in comfy jeans and a t-shirt. This was the wedding dress equivalent –comfy, soft and relaxed in its style.

My veil came from Twigs and Honey. It was a beautiful silk tulle Juliette veil with lace edging. My shoes were a gorgeous pair of green pumps from JCrew. As my bridesmaids had both chosen different coloured shoes these fitted in nicely with the hotchpotch style of the wedding.

Our Happy Place….

Cornwall is our happy place! We had seen St Michael’s Church online when I joked about us getting married (little did I know that David had already got the ring!!) It was perfect –small, secluded and in our favourite corner of the country. Then our friends who live locally told us that the Marshalls at Porthilly Farm rent out their headland just around the corner from the church! Just Perfect!

Hotchpotch Glasses, Hanpainted Signs and a beautiful Marquee….

We hired a beautiful marquee from LPM Bohemia, we chose to have a wooden floor and a roof lining printed with a blue motif. It looked so beautiful we did not need any other decorations. We painted signs to guide our guests to the marquee; we also painted signs for the bar, guest plank and the photo booth.

Outside the marquee we had a drinks table with our random and hotchpotch collection of glasses (we bought them from charity shops over the year) and three big drinks containers. There was also a kid’s area with some giant games and a tepee.

Handmade Decor, Homemade Gin and a Midnight Snack….

We made our own orders of service; each one had a hankie in it (made by my mum and me). I made the table plan by printing each table on a luggage label then I fixed them on to a map of the area we were in! My mum, my school friend Sarah and I made the napkins and we embroidered each guests name on to one. These became our place names. Our menus (drink and food) were written on chalk boards.

We had homemade flavoured gin made by myself and my bridesmaid Lauren for our favours. We also adopted a lobster for each guest from the National Lobster Hatchery. For the kiddies we put together small baskets with toys, sweets and cameras in them. On the invitations we had asked our guests to tell us their favourite sweet or chocolate –my mum, bridesmaids and I put a little bag together for each guest with their favourite chocolate. These were brought out later on in the evening along with small traditional Cornish pasties from The Chough Bakery in Padstow as a ‘midnight snack’ for our guests.

Bouquets, Pin Holes and Reception Flowers….

Our flowers were provided by Susanne from The Blue Carrot. I had seen some of Susanne’s work in the Cornish edition of Wed magazine. She is so creative and came up with ideas I would never have thought of. We met her at her home and she was so warm and welcoming. She really listened to our wedding plans and what we were looking for with respect to the flowers. She got us completely. The bouquets, the pinholes and the reception flowers were glorious! I got very emotional when she delivered our bouquets in the morning. Cannot recommend her enough – such an incredible talent.

A Homemade Wedding Cake…

I made our wedding cake – I found cake companies to be very expensive and the cake was not a very important part of the day to us so I put my baking hat on. I did a three tiered cake, the bottom layer was carrot cake, the middle was chocolate fudge cake and the top layer was lemon cake! I just did a simple buttercream frosting (which had slightly frozen in fridge overnight… cue panic in the morning!) and finished it off with edible flowers from The Flower Mill Cornwall.

Just fun and relaxed pictures….

Wow, simply, Wow – Michael and Hannah of Jackson & Co Photography are incredible, the minute we met them at the National Wedding Show we knew they were the photographers for us. They are such fun and incredibly easy to get on with. They understood exactly what we wanted –nothing formal, just fun, relaxed pictures.

I cannot recommend them enough! We absolutely loved having them at our wedding – a lot of giggles! Our photos are simply brilliant; they fully captured the feeling of the day. They even managed to get a couple of shots of my camera shy mum!! That is quite a feat!

Mouth Watering Food and An Ice Cream Trike….

Our caterer was the fabulous Miss Tea. My mouth is watering just thinking about Sarah’s food. Sarah had the patience of a saint – I was a bit indecisive!! Again everything was from Cornwall, using local suppliers. Sarah created the perfect meal…

We had delicious canapés including mini Cornish pasties followed by slow roast joint of lamb that guests carved at the table, served with veggies and salad.

Pudding was ice cream with a help yourself topping buffet. The ice cream was provided by The Cornish Ice Cream Trike. This was then followed by an immense cheese board – I love love love cheese and Sarah produced the most incredible spread of Cornish cheeses! Yummy!

Favourite Moment….

The day was better than I could ever have hoped for, but if I was to pick one part that was my most favourite it have to be the ceremony and exchanging vows with David. The church was full but all I noticed was David standing next to me squeezing my hand – I could not believe I was actually getting married – I had never felt happiness or excitement like it. I am truly lucky to have David beside me in life and I am so excited to see what life brings us! Starting with our move to Cornwall….

Honestly there is nothing I would change – there were things that didn’t work out exactly as planned but it didn’t matter at all! Our day was everything we hoped it would be and far far more!

Any Advice?

Remember this day is about you & your other half. There will be ups and downs but keep in mind that behind all the bunting, the cake, the dress and the stress over the guest list, only one thing actually matters – you are marrying the person you love and want to spend your life with. That is pretty amazing!